Episode
Sustainability and Innovation
- Podcast
- Transforming Tomorrow
- Published
- Mar 2, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2461
- Processing state
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Summary
Are innovation and sustainability natural bedfellows? Can you have one without the other – and would you even want to? We’re talking to Barbara Salopek, an innovation strategist; the founder and CEO of Vinco Innovation in Bergen, Norway; a Lecturer at BI Norwegian Business School; and the author of Future-Fit Innovation . She knows her stuff when it comes to innovation and business! We look at how sustainability (across economic, environmental and social aspects) and innovation intertwine, how each can drive forward and reinforce the other, and how AI can be both a positive and negative force for them both. Barbara tells us about how innovation means more than just something new – it has to be useful as well – why sustainability and innovation are not one-size-fits all solutions, the importance of long-term innovation over short-term thinking, why we all have innovation inside us – and the problems of lionising certain individuals as innovators, and why it should not be exhausting. We discuss the problem of treating innovation as a buzzword, take lessons from companies who have failed to innovate in the past, and learn from those who have innovated successfully, and assess what elements can create an environment where innovation and sustainability can flourish – or fail (including politics). Plus, Jan questions Paul’s levels of innovation and waxes lyrical about Bergen, we try to rehabilitate the reputation of the Luddites, glueless chairs (!), and we dive into the concept of functional fixedness. You can see more about Barbara’s book Future-Fit Innovation here: https://practicalinspiration.com/book/future-fit-innovation Discover more about Barbara and the Norwegian Business School in Bergen: https://www.bi.no/en/about-bi/employees/department-of-leadership-and-organiza…